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Benschop Foundation gives torture victim $200,000
The now 15-year-old torture victim received $200,000 on Monday from Ryan Benschop on behalf of his father, Mark Benschop.
The donation comes weeks after the then 14-year-old was tortured by police ranks during an interrogation into the murder of former senior Region Three official, Ramnauth Bisram. The teen, who turned 15 on November 14, last, was doused with a flammable liquid and then alighted by some ranks of the Leonora Police Station.
Christopher Watson, a long-standing member of the Benschop Foundation, made the donation. Watson, who stated that this would not be the last of the donations for the boy, is a Guyanese based in New Jersey.
The money was raised by Watson and a group of concerned Guyanese living in New Jersey. Watson and his wife will also be providing transportation for the young man to attend classes at the Mark Benschop Foundation from his Canal Number One home.
Torture victim receiving the donations from young Ryan Benschop
According to a Benschop Foundation representative, the use of the money is totally up to the boy and his family. Shirley Thomas, mother of the torture victim, assured Kaieteur News that she would be opening a bank account for her son, and that some of the money would be used on any further medical attention he needs.
In his current condition, the 15-year-old is not yet capable of lifting anything with considerable weight, and still suffers from pains in his lower back area and severe headaches. The mother suspects that as a result of receiving a beating to the head, a small swelling has occurred on the back of the teen’s head, and Thomas was instructed by doctors that should the swelling continue medical attention should be sought.
As it relates to the pace of the investigations into her son’s torture, Thomas feels dissatisfied and says that she has not yet been contacted by the police. She would also like to know who gave the police the statement accusing her son of Bisram’s murder, and said that she “would leave them in the hands of God.”
Thomas also hopes that should Bisram’s murderer be caught, he would feel the same pain as her son did. The young boy expressed his sincerest gratitude towards the Benschop Foundation for all the assistance they have so far provided him and his family with.
Thomas also revealed that the family cannot have usual Christmas celebrations as all the focus of the family is to make extra provision for the boy, one of three of Thomas’s children.
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